In 1812 John Graham undertook the task which was to define his military career, he was sent with British regulars and Boer commandos to clear around 20,000 Xhosa settled in the Zuurveld ( Albany) which lay beyond the Cape Colony’s frontiers. On completion of this ‘clearing’ he established Graham’s Town as the Zuurveld’s central military post. The same year, 1812, he returned to England and later accompanied his cousin General Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch to Holland as his aide-de-camp and private military secretary